1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stamp-face forming apparatus, a method of forming a stamp face, and a stamp-face forming system, which form a stamp face on a stamp face material held in a stamp-face material holder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Saving troublesome work to put ink on a stamp face of a stamp every time a user fixes his/her stamp, rubber stamps have been used widely, which use a porous sponge sheet previously impregnated with ink as a stamp face.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 10-100464 has proposed a plate making apparatus for forming a stamp face. The plate making apparatus is provided with a thermal head having plural heating elements. A stamp produced by this plate making apparatus consists of a block with a stamp face material (stamp plate) attached thereon, wherein the stamp face material is made of a porous sheet. While making the stamp plate, the plate making apparatus holds the block with the stamp face material attached thereon and moves the plural heating elements of the thermal head so as to slide on the surface of the porous sheet of the stamp face material, while resiliently pressing the heating elements against the surface of the porous sheet, and selectively heats the plural heating elements to heat the stamp face material, thereby making non-porous portions preventing ink from permeating there through and porous portions allowing ink to permeate there through. In this way, the plate making apparatus forms a stamp face consisting of the non-porous portions preventing ink from permeating there through and the porous portions allowing ink to permeate there through.
In the plate making apparatus disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei10-100464, the stamp consists of the block with the stamp plate made of a square stamp material sheet, attached thereon, and the plate making apparatus makes the stamp plate while the stamp plate is attached to the block, and therefore, the plate making apparatus has to be large in scale.